Genetics driven interventions forex situconservation of red junglefowl (Gallus gallus murghi) populations in India

Abstract

Genetics driven interventions (GDI) are imperative for ex situ conservation to exhort long-term sustenance of small and isolated populations in captivity as they are more prone to an increased extinction risk due to inbreeding and genetic drift. We investigated constitutive genetic attributes of four captive Red Junglefowl (RJF) populations in India, to facilitate the prioritization of the birds to formulate an effective breeding action plan. All the four RJF populations were found to be evident of significant inbreeding but none of them had exhibited any signature of bottleneck footprints in the recent past. Bayesian cluster analysis revealed three distinct groups among the four captive RJF populations. Interestingly, birds of Kufri population were assigned together with Gopalpur as well as with Morni populations, indicating their shared genetic ancestry. Among the four populations, Morni population displayed the richest genetic attributes and was therefore presumed as a key source of genetic variation. Nine birds of Morni population were relatively pure (q-value >0.98) and carried about 50% of the total private alleles of Morni population. Thus, being the foremost reservoir of allelic diversity, these nine birds may be selected for launching alien alleles to other RJF populations to rescue their loss of genetic diversity arising from inbreeding.

Morphological and molecular characterization of hairtail (Trichiurus spp.) from the Indian Ocean, southern coast of East Java, Indonesia

“…Until now, the research or the study on the red jungle fowl focuses more on kinship of red jungle fowl as the progenitor (ancestor) of the current chickens and on its genetic characteristic (Azmi et al 2000;Dorji et al 2012;Moiseyeva et al 2003;Mukesh et al 2011;Mukesh et al 2013;Sulandari et al 2008), and also on its population, behavior, and habitat (Arshad and Zakaria 2009;Javed and Rahmani 2000;Subhani et al 2010). On the other hand, the basic information about the domestication of the red jungle fowl by society is a very little, especially the information about how people obtain their red jungle fowl (Setianto et al 2015a).…”

Pragmatic Perspective on Conservation Genetics and Demographic History of the Last Surviving Population of Kashmir Red Deer (Cervus elaphus hanglu) in India

“…Systematic research on the genetic makeup and demographic structure of the existing hangul population is crucial to suggest an effective management plan and recovery strategies. Studies have indicated that genetically isolated or small populations are at greater risk of extinction, not only due to threats posed by anthropogenic factors but also due to the vulnerability to loss of genetic diversity, inbreeding and stochastic processes [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. To devise adequate conservation and management strategies, it is important to incorporate a reliable understanding of their genetic diversity and demographic history [ 9 , 10 ], and molecular markers are important tools for analyzing demographic responses of populations and other historical processes [ 11 , 12 ].…”

Loss of genetic diversity and inbreeding in Kashmir red deer (Cervus elaphus hanglu) of Dachigam National Park, Jammu & Kashmir, India

“…Genetic characterization of a species is considered necessary to formulate breeding policies and prioritize the conservation action plans in an effective and meaningful way [13,14]. Therefore, we attempted to assess the existing genetic diversity and the extent of inbreeding in hangul population of Dachigam National Park using the pneumatic shed hair samples collected opportunistically during the hangul population estimation exercise carried out in March, 2011.…”